


got my love to keep me warm

by foxwatson



Category: Bill & Ted (Movies)
Genre: Anyways, Blow Jobs, First Time, Frottage, M/M, Mistletoe, Snowball Fight, Snowballing, Snowed In, all kinds of jolly shenanigans in here!, also uh, ha ha see i., just some sweet soft jolly for everybody, merry jolly everyone, ted sees snow for the first time, they do a lot of cuddling for warmth, used the
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:28:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28175415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxwatson/pseuds/foxwatson
Summary: When Bill realizes that Ted's never seen snow, he realizes too that he wants to be the one to show it to him. How convenient that the Prestons have a cabin on Big Bear Lake, where he can take Ted - and maybe, stuck up there in the snow together, Bill can finally tell Ted how he feels, too.
Relationships: Ted "Theodore" Logan/Bill S. Preston Esq.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	got my love to keep me warm

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY WHOO. EVERYONE PLEASE ENJOY, THIS THE FIRST OF MY JOLLY FICS.
> 
> title credit of course to dean martin's i've got my love to keep me warm, uwu

The idea strikes one night when Bill is helping his dad clean up after their weekly dinner, and he catches an old family photo out of the corner of his eye. In it, Bill’s probably only 4 or 5, standing in between his mom’s legs - and they’re both so layered up it’s hard to see either of their faces.

It was taken on one of their old annual vacations, Bill remembers. Every year, they used to go up to a cabin at Big Bear Lake, though Bill isn’t sure now who the place belonged to. He only has hazy memories of tubing, and attempting to snowboard, and making snow angels with his mom, or trying to build a snowman with his dad.

The tradition had been abandoned when his mom died, so Bill hasn’t been up there in years - but he still remembers what the snow was like, how cold it was, and how much fun he always had. He turns around from scrubbing the dishes and looks over at his dad, still sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey Dad?” he starts, clearing his throat a little. “Do you - remember when we used to go up to Big Bear Lake every year?”

His father puts down the paper he’d still been squinting at, and looks at Bill instead, peeking over his glasses. “Yeah, of course I do, Bill. It’s been a while, but - less of my life than yours. Why?”

“Well I just-” Bill crosses his arms to keep from fidgeting, then turns back around and goes back to trying to dry off a glass, just to do something with his hands. “We haven’t been in a long time. And I know you’re busy and stuff but like - who owned that cabin, anyways?”

“We did. It was from your mother’s side of the family, but she inherited it. I rent it out, usually, or have for the last handful of years. You know when - when Missy was here she and I went up there once or twice,” his father chokes out, stumbling over the words. He clears his throat. “And I’ve gone up there to get some writing done now and then. Alone.”

“Right,” Bill mumbles. He can’t remember the last time his dad took him on a vacation - and frankly he has no desire to go now. But the thing is - the thought that Bill really had when he saw his own childhood photograph, is that he’s not sure  _ Ted _ has  _ ever _ seen snow. He knows that Ted rarely ever set foot outside of San Dimas growing up, because Captain Logan always said they couldn’t afford it, or he was too busy. Once or twice, Bill had gotten to bring a friend on vacation - which is how he and Ted had gotten to have their most excellent trip to Disney World - but he never took Ted to Big Bear Lake, and Bill doesn’t know where else Ted would have seen snow.

This year will be the third holiday season where he and Ted have been living together, and while they always have a good time just hanging out together for Hanukkah and Christmas, sharing latkes and trading presents, Bill kind of wants to do something special. He’s not sure why - or maybe he just doesn’t really want to admit why - but the longer he and Ted live together, the more certain Bill becomes that he kind of just wants to keep living with Ted pretty much forever. He kind of wants to find some way to bring it up, or see if Ted feels the same way at all - and he can’t imagine a more resplendent place to try asking than their old cabin.

He can picture it all so clearly - playing in the snow, making hot cocoa, curling up in front of the fireplace. He feels himself flush a little and puts away the dishes he’s finished drying.

“Did you - rent the cabin already for this year?” Bill asks, still not wanting to look over at his dad.

“No, actually. Nobody’s taken me up on the ad. Did you - want to go up? I probably can’t get away from work, but I suppose you could always - take someone. Maybe that girl?”

“Jo and I broke up like over a year ago now, Dad,” Bill mumbles, hunching his shoulders.

“Right. Of course. Someone else, then.”

Bill takes a deep breath, and turns off the water in the sink. “I kind of just thought - maybe Ted and I could go.”

His dad hums - but when Bill finally turns, he’s still not even looking up. “Sure, why not? Maybe meet some ski bunnies out there on the slopes. Girls love all that snowboarding stuff, right?”

Frowning, Bill huffs a little and scuffs his shoe against the kitchen tile. “Yeah. Uh. Maybe so. Does that mean we can?”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead. If anyone calls about the ad, I’ll tell them they called too late. We don’t really need the money, now you’re out of the house. Just let me know when you’re heading up, I can give you the keys.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.” Bill goes back over to the table, and pushes his chair in. “I guess I’ll - see you next week.”

For a moment, then, his dad looks up, and blinks a little - and he actually meets Bill’s eyes. “You know - I never see Ted anymore. If you did want to bring him to dinner sometime - if it’s important to you, you could.”

Bill flushes, startled. “Dad?”

“I mean, you don’t have to. But - that Captain Logan was always a real piece of work, from what I remember. And - Ted always seemed like a nice boy. The two of you did a great job on that history report, against all odds.”

Still blushing, feeling clumsy, Bill stumbles over and nods a little. “I - yeah. Maybe.” He stands there for a moment, his own awkwardness clearly reflected in his father’s expression. Then he wraps one arm around his dad’s shoulders, squeezes him tight for just a moment, and then heads for the door. “Thanks, Dad,” he calls back over his shoulder.

“See you next week, son.”

“Bye!” he calls back, and he scurries out of the front door, his heart still racing. As much as he had sort of been trying to talk to his dad about it a little - he didn’t totally mean for him to listen. Given, he has been better at it again ever since Missy left, but most of the time he still seems pretty zoned out over dinner.

It’s kind of surprisingly nice to have his dad be so strangely supportive, but it’s unexpected, too.

Still, what matters is he and Ted can have the cabin for their trip. Bill grins to himself as he goes back to the van, and pumps his fist a little in victory as he hops inside. This is totally going to be the best Hanukkah/Christmas he and Ted have ever had - Bill’s going to make sure of it.

He drives home still in high spirits, and bounds up the stairs to the apartment with a smile on his face.

Ted’s already at home, stretched out over the couch with his feet hanging off one end. He’s turned facing the television, and when Bill comes in he leans up a little, settling his weight on an elbow so he can peek over the TV and grin. “Hey, dude. Good dinner with your dad?”

Bill realizes he’s still grinning, especially now that he’s seeing Ted, and he tries and probably fails to turn it down a notch. “Yeah, dude, it was good. Was work okay?”

Ted shrugs, and nods, then flops back onto the couch and stretches. Bill watches the long line of his body, and the curve of his arched back, and the way his shirt rides up. “It wasn’t totally heinous, I guess. The mall’s still a nightmare, though.”

“I’m sure. Glad today wasn’t quite as bad, though.” Bill steps into the bedroom, kicking off his shoes and trading his flannel for a comfier shirt. He pulls on his pajama bottoms, too, before he walks back into the living room and settles on the couch, sitting in front of Ted’s legs.

“Yeah, it was okay.” Ted’s knees bump against Bill’s back. “Really, though, dude, how was dinner? Is that what has you so totally amped up, or did something else happen?”

Bill shrugs, and smiles a little again. “A little of both, I guess. Dinner went good but - I got news, too. Or - I guess I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it, Bill?” Ted asks, squirming to turn around and settle on his back. He scoots up, too, propping up against the armrest so he can actually look at Bill a little better.

For a moment, Bill glances over at his face, and then he has to look away again, directing his gaze at the TV. “Well, I know we don’t really usually do anything for the holidays but - when I was home I remembered me and Mom and Dad used to go up to that same place on Big Bear Lake every year before Hanukkah. And you’ve - you’ve never been skiing or anything, right?”

Ted shakes his head. “I’ve never even seen snow, dude. Is it like - cool?”

“I mean, I think so. And I thought - well I asked dad and he said you and me could go up to the cabin and stuff, if you wanted. Just cause I thought it could be fun, you know, just the two of us on a vacation, and maybe we could - write music and stuff, and you could see the snow.” Bill starts to mumble as he trails off, getting a little embarrassed. He can feel his face heat up, and he picks at the couch a little. Maybe it’s obvious he’s put too much thought into this.

“Dude, I don’t even know how to ski,” Ted says softly, sitting up properly.

That makes Bill snort out a little laugh before he glances at Ted again. “Well neither do I, dude. I don’t actually wanna ski, I just - you know there’s a bunch of fun stuff you can do in the snow, or like. By staying in out of the snow, we’d just have the place to ourselves and no neighbors,” Bill continues, and then realizes how it sounds, and quickly pushes forward to finish his sentence. “Like for music and stuff like - playing or writing or just... listening to records.”

“You really wanna do that, just with us?”

“I mean we don’t gotta go, Ted, just - you know, if you wanted to-”

“Of course I want to,” Ted says quickly, sitting all the way up - so fast that one of his knees nearly bumps into Bill’s face. “That sounds - Bill it sounds like the most transcendent of holiday vacations, but I just - I feel like I don’t have anything to pay you back, dude.”

Bill smiles, but wrinkles his nose. “Pay me back for what, dude? We’re gonna go together. That’s the whole point. I wanna have fun, too.”

“But like - this is like the best Christmas present anybody’s ever gotten me, Bill.”

“This isn’t even the present, though, Ted. It’s not even gonna cost anything.” He can feel his face heating up again - but now Ted is flushed, too, wide-eyed and pink cheeked and staring at him, hugging his knees to his chest.

“Yeah I guess, I just - I don’t even know how to say thanks, Bill.”

“Well maybe say yes first?” Bill urges him. “I mean if you wanna-”

“Oh - dude, yeah! Of course! Of course I wanna go.”

Bill smiles, and laughs a little, relieved. “Okay, cool. We just gotta tell dad before we wanna head up so we can get the keys and stuff - once we get our work schedules figured out, I’ll talk to him about it.”

Ted grins, and hugs his knees a little tighter. He looks almost giddy, hiding behind his hair. “I can’t believe we’re gonna go see snow, dude.”

Bill smiles back at him, nudging his knuckles against Ted’s knee. “Well believe it, dude. It’s totally gonna be snowy up at Big Bear by now. It might even snow while we’re there.”

This time, Ted laughs, mouth open, and his eyes light up. “Whoa,” he says quietly. He wiggles a little on the couch, then scoots around to adjust, turning to face the TV, and kicks his legs out, squirming around a little more, pressing his hands against his face. “Oh man,” he mutters.

It makes Bill laugh again, and he just lets himself watch as Ted gets all his excitement out, shaking his hands out and wiggling his toes against the carpet. He loves to see Ted this happy - so happy it seems like he can’t even contain it, like it rushes through his body and just forces him to move.

He resists the urge to reach out and touch, and instead he just watches, happy just to know his suggestion made Ted light up like this.

When Ted seems to have gotten all the excitement out, he drops his hands to his sides, slumps down on the couch and grins up at the ceiling. “Bill, this is truly going to be a most excellent holiday.”

“I think so, too, Ted,” Bill tells him - and he reaches out to wiggle his fingers against Ted’s, but instead, Ted grabs his hand and squeezes, just once. 

Then he shakes his head, and tugs on Bill’s hand, and pulls him into a hug, there on the couch. He presses his head against Bill’s shoulder and sighs. “Thanks, Bill.”

“No problem, dude,” Bill says, placing his hands carefully on Ted’s back, just letting them rest there gently, still surprised by the hug. “I’m excited, too. Seriously. I haven’t been up there in ages, you know. Not since I was a kid.”

Ted squeezes him just a little bit tighter, then pops back up and smiles at him. “We’ll make sure it’s an excellent trip back, then. It’s gonna be perfect, dude.”

This close, Bill can see the freckles scattered across Ted’s nose and cheeks. Bill watches as his eyelashes flutter for a moment, and his nose scrunches up a little as he laughs again, and ducks his head, and Bill - Bill wants to tug him closer and hug him tight and never let him go. Instead, he drops his hands and smiles back. “I’m sure it will be, Ted.”

Now when he reaches out, Ted lets him, and they wiggle their fingers together before they both turn back to the television.

After that night, it takes them both a few days to get their days off coordinated, but in the end it seems their managers at work will be glad to be rid of them for a day or two on either side of the weekend. Bill really looks forward to the day he and Ted are making enough money from their music to be able to quit their bogus jobs, but they’re not quite there yet.

Still, with their vacation all set, for now it hardly seems to matter. They won’t be spending their actual holidays in the cabin, home before Hanukkah or Christmas, but they’ll have a full four day weekend up at the lake on their own, away from work and everything else, too.

They take a special trip to the thrift store the week before, both of them buying big coats, hats, scarves and gloves - enough layers to make sure they won’t freeze in the snow. It’s the kind of stuff they never need in San Dimas, but Bill wants to make sure Ted doesn’t freeze up at the cabin. Even beyond what they’ll need for actually going out in the snow, Bill has a feeling his dad never had central heating installed, so they’ll be making do with the fireplace and blankets most of the time they’re there.

Bill keeps worrying that Ted’s going to regret agreeing at some point before they even go, but instead he just gets excited about all their new clothes and the chance to wear them. He tries on a knit hat with a pom pom on it in the store and grins as he shakes his head around to feel it move. Once they’re home, he sews a little smiley face patch on it, and then wears it anytime it gets cooler at night.

With Ted’s excitement just increasing his own, that week passes quickly - and then they both get off work on Thursday, pile all their stuff in the van, and start the drive up to the cabin.

The trouble is - Bill remembers they used to start seeing snow sometimes a whole half hour outside of Big Bear. They stop for food, though, just fifteen minutes out, and pick up some groceries to take with them, and he just keeps telling himself that he’s remembering wrong - because there’s no snow anywhere.

They get closer and closer to the cabin, though, and there’s still no snow.

And then they’re there. It’s beautiful, still, all surrounded by evergreens and perfectly picturesque. If there was any snow, it would look like something out of a holiday postcard. Instead, it’s just a nice, kind of boring cabin, and Bill’s dragged Ted all the way up here for nothing, basically.

He scuffs his sneaker against the gravel driveway and huffs in frustration. “I’m sorry, Ted.”

“For what, dude?” Ted asks, coming around in front of the van, smiling up at the cabin. “This place is incredible! And we’ve got it all to ourselves for the weekend, and like - three whole days for it to snow. Aren’t you excited to be back?”

Bill smiles a little, Ted’s enthusiasm as contagious as ever. “Well - yeah, dude, of course. I just thought it was supposed to be snowy already. I kind of promised you it would be.”

“I don’t care about that, dude,” Ted tells him, coming over to bump their shoulders together. “We’re here to have a most excellent vacation, with or without the snow. I bet it’ll snow tomorrow, or Saturday, and in the meantime we can just hang out in the cabin and watch movies and listen to music and stuff. Maybe even get some writing done, like you said! Let’s get our stuff inside.”

Nodding, Bill follows Ted to the back of the van, and they both grab as much stuff as they can to haul it all inside. They pile their clothes and guitars up in the living room, and walk through the cabin together to get a feel for the layout.

Bill’s reminded that most people who rent this cabin are probably either small families or honeymooning couples, and his dad hasn’t changed any of the stuff out since he was expecting to rent it out this year, too. It looks different from when Bill was a kid, renovated to cater to peoples’ expectations. There’s mistletoe hanging over the door to the basement, for example, which Bill resolutely ignores, and Ted doesn’t mention either.

Of course, all this is where the second obvious problem comes in. Aside from the living room and the kitchen, there’s one hallway that leads to Bill’s childhood bedroom and a bathroom, and another hallway to the master bedroom. Bill’s old room now just has a bunk bed - and it’s clear neither bunk would be able to fit Ted, because it might even be a cramped fit for Bill. 

The master bedroom, intended for couples, only has one bed.

Standing in the doorway, Bill flushes. “Shit. Uh - I can sleep in my old bedroom, dude, if you want, I just - I really probably should have thought about this more-”

“Bill, dude, it’s way cold in here! If you sleep all the way in the other room in one of those tiny beds you’d probably like - freeze to death. We should just share the bed.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna freeze to death, Ted,” Bill mumbles, scratching at the back of his neck. “It’s fine, dude, really.”

“But - we can keep each other warm in here. And it’s not like anybody’s here to make fun of us. Plus then we can still stay up talking and stuff like we always do. I don’t wanna like - sleep in separate rooms on vacation. And the bed’s huge, dude!” Ted insists, flopping onto it and bouncing to make his point.

He grins, and Bill looks at the way that even the long reach of Ted’s full arm span doesn’t cover the full width of the bed. It might actually be a King - Bill isn’t sure he’s ever even seen a bed this big in real life. 

Bill sits down on the edge, bouncing a little as he smiles back at Ted. “Okay, dude. If you’re sure.”

“Totally,” Ted tells him, leaning up and nodding hard enough that the little pom pom on his hat wiggles with it.

That makes Bill laugh, and he reaches over to bump his knuckles against Ted’s before he hops back up off the bed. “C’mon, then, dude. Let’s get all our stuff in here and hunt up all the blankets and make some hot cocoa or something. We can put on a record or like - an old Muppet Christmas special.”

“How come the Muppets never made a Hanukkah special, dude?” Ted asks as he hops up and follows Bill back out into the living room.

“That’s an excellent question, Ted. It would only make sense that at least one of them was Jewish.”

“Maybe there is one and we just don’t know about it. We should check next time we’re at the library.”

Bill nods. “Good idea, dude.”

They nod at each other, then actually go about the work of getting all their stuff set up. They plug in their amps and guitars out in the living room, then carry their clothes into the bedroom, piling their big coats on a chair in the corner. They dig all the blankets out of the linen closet in the hallway, and pile some more on the bed, and some on the couch.Then they put all their groceries away in the kitchen - and Bill finally starts to feel like they’ve settled in. He turns to Ted, and both of them grin at each other as they break into an air guitar.

“I guess we’re set for the weekend,” he tells Ted, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. “You still wanna watch a movie or something or did you wanna try to go outside? I guess we could wait and see if it snows.”

Ted shakes his head, edging a little closer to Bill. “No way. Let’s just stay in here tonight. There’s no fun in getting cold when there’s not even any snow out there, dude.” He laughs a little, and nudges his shoulder against Bill’s. “Let’s just make hot cocoa and make the couch into like - a blanket fort. It’ll be like when we used to have sleepovers at your place.”

“Oh, yeah,” Bill says, smiling back. “Great idea, Ted.”

The kitchen is simple, and Bill finds it oddly cozy. He still doesn’t have a lot of clear memories from the time he spent up here, but he can remember just enough that as Ted leans against the counter, and he gets the stove going, he gets a vivid picture of sitting on the counter watching his mom do this same exact thing. He looks down at the funky old pot he found in the cabinet, and traces his finger over the pattern before it gets too warm.

“My mom used to always make hot cocoa whenever we were up here,” Bill says quietly. “Especially when me and Dad like - came back in from the snow. I probably can’t make it as good as she used to.”

For a moment, Bill just looks down into the pot, stirring as it heats up. Then he feels Ted’s shoulder bump into his. “It’s okay, dude. We can just keep trying. And besides - I’m sure yours is still good, either way.”

Snorting, Bill turns to Ted - but he softens a little when he sees the way Ted is looking at him, all flushed and genuine. It’s not even that he’s smiling at Bill, because he’s not, not quite. Instead, he has a strangely thoughtful look on his face, his brow all drawn down before Bill meets his eyes. Once they’re looking at each other, one corner of Ted’s mouth lifts up, and he bumps his elbow against Bill’s side.

Bill wants to kiss him so badly he aches with it. He might even lean in, just a little, out of instinct. Instead, he just nudges his own elbow hard against Ted’s ribs and ducks his head, laughing again. “I guess we’ll see. Now you’ve gotta tell me if it’s totally bogus, though.”

“No way,” Ted tells him softly, giggling through it. “It’s gonna be fine, dude.”

As it turns out, the cocoa  _ is _ fine. Bill’s right that it probably isn’t as good as his mom’s - but it’s hard to remember clearly anyways, with nostalgia in the way. Ted seems to really like it, humming happily into the mug and doing a little wiggle as he tastes it for the first time.

They put their mugs down on an end table to get all the blankets ready, and they end up pulling the TV close to the couch, draping a blanket over it, pulling the other end over the back of the couch, and then settling underneath, sitting on the floor, leaned back against the front of the sofa. They wrap themselves in another blanket, and both of them keep their cocoa in their hands.

Once he’s gotten the tape in for the old John Denver special, Bill finds that with the blanket over top of them, and another one over both of their shoulders, it’s almost too warm with his shoulder tucked up against Ted’s. He doesn’t move, though, just settling in, letting their arms stay pressed together. Ted pulls his knees up close to his chest, and turns towards Bill a little, and they both sing along with the Twelve Days of Christmas and laugh as Fozzie misses his cues.

They watch this same old special every year at the apartment, or have for the past few years, but there’s something that feels special about watching it here in their little blanket fort. When Bill’s hands feel warm enough, he keeps his eyes fixed on the television as he slides an arm around Ted’s shoulders, holding him close.

His heart speeds up in his chest, nervous about how Ted might react - but Ted just turns a little and wiggles in closer, leaning his head against Bill’s shoulder.

In spite of his own nerves, it feels strangely natural to have Ted curled up against him like this. Even though he knows they don’t, it feels like they do this every night at home - or like they could. Like anytime Bill could have reached out, and Ted would have gladly leaned into his touch. Bill takes a deep breath and slouches a little, letting himself lean back against Ted, who just hums and curls a little closer.

“This is nice, dude,” Ted mumbles at one point, stretching his legs out towards the television. “Good way to stay warm.”

“Yeah,” Bill agrees, tightening his arm around Ted’s shoulders. “It is.”

By the time the special is over, Ted is humming rather than singing, and his eyes have fallen shut. Bill looks down at his face for a moment, just letting his eyes trace over the familiar features, resisting the urge to push Ted’s bangs out of his eyes or gently brush a thumb over his freckles. 

Instead, as the end credits roll, Bill squeezes at Ted’s shoulder and shrugs a little, just to nudge his head. “C’mon, dude. Let’s get to bed.”

Ted mumbles, sleepily, and lets Bill pull him up. They stumble into the kitchen, toss their mugs in the sink, and then fall into bed, both of them scooting in towards the middle until they can feel each other’s warmth. After the heat in their little blanket fort, the sheets in the actual bed are freezing.

“Cold,” Ted mutters, and Bill scoots closer, carefully wrapping an arm around his middle.

“Better?” he asks, still trying to keep a little distance, leaving an inch or two between their bodies.

Squirming around, though, Ted nudges back against Bill and then settles in, wrapping his arm over the one Bill has around his waist. “Yeah, dude. Thanks,” he mumbles.

It reminds Bill of the one other time he’s used an opportunity like this to get close to Ted - when they were huddled together in the back of their van, that time the robots had taken them out to the desert. Ted had been cold, and Bill had immediately crossed over to sit beside him, pressing their shoulders and arms together, leaning close to share his body heat. For all that the rest of that situation had been totally bogus, that one part of the trip still stood out in Bill’s memory - the way it had felt to lean close against Ted, and take comfort in the gentle weight of Ted’s head on his shoulder whenever he’d dozed off with the gentle sway of the van.

Now, it’s the same excuse, just a much more pleasant situation. Bill ducks his head and presses it against Ted’s back, breathing slowly against the fabric of his sleep shirt. It’s soft, threadbare from use, and warm from Ted’s skin - and it smells like him, too. Like his shampoo, and his deodorant. Bill takes another slow deep breath, and carefully shifts his hips back a little, and tries to let himself fall asleep.

In the morning, he wakes up because his feet are freezing. He groans, and turns his face into the pillows, curling up to try and keep himself warm. When he finally squints one eye open, he realizes either he or Ted or both of them have kicked the quilt around in the night, and now it’s all tangled up between them, totally askew. Bill grumbles and pulls his legs back in, pressing his cold toes against Ted’s legs, enough to make Ted whine and reach out to elbow him.

“Dude!” Ted groans, and Bill just keeps poking him with his cold toes, laughing as Ted sleepily tries to dodge.

Finally, they both end up back under the covers, shivering and giggling a little as they huddle close.

“We should probably get up and get a shower,” Bill says, though he’s got his eyes closed again as he feels his knees knock against Ted’s.

Groaning again, Ted presses his face into the pillows, and it means his whole body ends up closer to Bill’s as he turns inward. “Don’t wanna.”

“Well the shower’d be warm. Then we can bundle up again and make pancakes, dude. See if it’s snowed, get back in the blanket fort and write some songs or something.”

“That does sound nice,” Ted mumbles, but he turns back towards Bill for a moment, head almost tucked to his chest as he stretches.

Then, his eyes fluttering open, Ted finally sits up and blinks blearily at Bill. “Do you think there’s enough hot water for us to use both showers at the same time?”

Bill snorts. “I dunno, dude. Seems like it’d be asking a lot of a place that doesn’t even have like, central heating.”

“Good point, dude,” Ted admits. Then, with a nod, he flops back into the bed face first and snuggles back in. “You go first, then.”

That makes Bill laugh - but then he grins, too, and grabs one of the blankets as he hops up off the bed, wrapping it around his shoulders. “Suit yourself, dude!” He calls out as he rushes over towards the bathroom.

“No fair, dude!” Ted calls after him - and Bill just laughs as he shuts the bathroom door.

Once they’re both showered, and a little warmer, they huddle together around the stove to make pancakes, and then take them back into their blanket fort to eat. They flip the television on and search until they find some cartoons, using them for background noise as much as anything.

They eventually pull their guitars into the blanket fort and do a little writing, which goes surprisingly well, and passes the time quickly. The trouble is, when they peek out of the fort for lunch, and again for dinner, it still isn’t snowing - and Bill is starting to feel most discouraged.

He doesn’t want to bring it up, though, when Ted still seems like he’s having a good time, and they’re getting so much writing done. Maybe it’s enough even if it doesn’t snow, and they just came up here to spend some time together. It’s not like Bill’s having a bad time - it’s just that none of this is really going to plan.

It keeps getting colder, and after he and Ted have both wrapped themselves in extra blankets and put their hats and socks on, Bill realizes he should probably start a fire. 

He has to go down into the basement to get the wood, but it’s only when he comes back up that he realizes he’s under the mistletoe. He tries to just duck his head and ignore it, firewood still stacked in his arms, but then Ted calls out.

“Dude - wait, isn’t it like, bad luck to do that? Aren’t you like - s’posed to wait there til somebody kisses you?”

Bill flushes, and huffs. “We don’t actually have to do that stuff when there’s nobody here, Ted.”

“Well - I mean, I guess, but - what if it is bad luck, dude? And then it doesn’t snow?”

“So what are you saying, I just gotta stand here all night?”

“No way, dude,” Ted says softly, walking over with a blanket still wrapped tight around his shoulders. “I just don’t want us to have bad luck.” He places a hand on Bill’s arm and leans in close, pressing his lips gently to Bill’s flushed cheek.

Shivering a little, Bill exhales sharply and watches with wide eyes as Ted pulls back and immediately ducks to hide behind his hair.

“That should work, right?” he asks, glancing up to meet Bill’s eyes and then looking away again.

Bill clutches tighter at the kindling in his arms and then shakes his head. “Now you’re under here, too, though. So if we’re both gonna leave, I guess-” Leaning up on his toes, Bill presses a kiss against Ted’s cheek. There’s a hint of stubble on his skin, but otherwise it’s smooth and soft and warm. Bill wants to linger, nuzzle closer and kiss Ted again, but his legs start to shake, and he’s still got his arms full, so he settles back on his feet and walks back towards the fireplace. “There,” he says, as he walks away. “Now we should be good, right?”

“Yeah,” Ted says softly, still standing in front of the basement door. “That - yeah.” Then, after a long, quiet moment, he comes over and crouches down next to Bill, helping him put wood in the fireplace. “Good thinking, dude.”

He leans in close, and presses his shoulder against Bill’s, and Bill leans back, keeping close as he lights the fire and stokes it to get it started properly.

Once they’ve taken down their blanket fort, they lay the blanket down on the floor and settle in front of the fireplace. Bill puts on a record, and they sit there tucked together, just listening to music as they watch the fire burn.

By the time they go to bed, the bedroom is freezing cold again - and though something looks different about the light outside, it still hasn’t snowed.

If it doesn’t snow tomorrow, they’ll only have one more full day before they’re supposed to leave - and Bill finds it difficult to sleep, still caught up thinking about it.

Then, in the morning, Ted wakes him up by shaking him by the shoulders.

“Dude, it’s snowing! Bill, you gotta wake up, come on, dude!”

Bill lifts his face from the pillows and blinks blearily, and Ted’s face is right in front of his, flushed pink and bright with his smile. For a moment, Bill just stares, caught up in the way he could count all of Ted’s freckles like this, and the fact that their noses are almost close enough to touch. “Wha?” he finally says, almost a full minute too late.

“It’s snowing, dude!” Ted cries out again, shaking Bill’s shoulder, and then he hops out of the bed, stumbling over to their luggage and digging around. “We gotta get dressed, I wanna go see the snow before it stops, it’s so pretty when it falls, it looks so - soft, dude, and floaty. I totally get all that stuff from the Christmas songs now, it’s like - beautiful.”

Sitting up slowly, Bill rubs his eyes, and he laughs a little as Ted hops around tugging his snow pants on over his pajamas. “Shouldn’t we, like - eat first?”

“I don’t want it to stop! And I don’t wanna go out there without you, dude, come on, get dressed!”

Grinning, Bill heaves himself up out of bed and puts on some more layers - a second pair of socks, his heavy coat, his own waterproof pants. Once they both have on their gloves and everything else, Bill turns to Ted and checks him over. It looks like he’s all layered up, mostly covered, and like he probably won’t get too cold. Bill reaches out and tugs on the ear flaps of his hat. “C’mon, dude. Let’s go play in the snow.”

Ted giggles and hooks his arm around Bill’s. “Excellent.”

As soon as they make it to the door, Ted cheers and runs out, spinning around in a circle with his arms out. Bill watches him from the doorway, all too aware of how cold it is - but just watching Ted laugh and tilt his head up towards the sky leaves Bill’s chest feeling all warm and achy.

“Bill, come on!” Ted calls out, waving him over.

Bill sighs, but he’s smiling as he walks over, hands shoved in his pockets. “What, dude?”

“What is it - like. I know we should probably eat and stuff before we try to make a snowman but like - what do you do? Just - like while it’s still falling.”

“I used to like to try and catch snowflakes on my tongue,” Bill tells him, shuffling a little closer. “Like you just - tilt your head back and stick your tongue out and-”

Immediately, Ted does it, closing his eyes instinctively as he opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue, face tilted up towards the sky. “Like this?” he asks, squinting one eye open to peek at Bill, even as he leaves his tongue hanging out.

He laughs, and nods. “Yeah, dude. Just like that.”

Ted closes his eyes again, and stands there with his face tilted up, and Bill just - stands there watching him. Snowflakes get caught in his hair, and his eyelashes, and some land on his hat and his cheeks, and he starts to get all pink from the cold, right at the tip of his nose.

Since Ted’s eyes are closed, Bill feels like he can just stand there staring and get away with it - so he does. Ted looks so beautiful, his hair dark against the stark white of the snow already on the ground and the cabin and the trees. He’s a perfect addition to the picture perfect postcard of it all - standing there all bundled up, shivering a little and laughing as he finally manages to catch a snowflake.

He tilts his head back down and leaves his tongue out, smiling around it. “Bill, I got one!” he tries to say, and Bill laughs at the way it comes out all garbled.

His laugh sets Ted off again, and he giggles some more as he closes his eyes again and tilts his head back up.

This time, he’s smiling so hard he’s having trouble sticking his tongue out, and Bill looks at the flush over his cheeks, and the way he has his hands tucked against his chest, fingers all curled up in his mittens. Bill thinks again that he looks like some kind of artwork - and then he registers how hard his heart is beating, and how badly he wants to go over and pull Ted close, and kiss him right there in the snow, and he thinks -  _ oh _ .

He’s always known that he loved Ted, or at least he’s known it as long as he’s thought about it. Ted’s his best friend, and his favorite person in the world, and all of that has always made sense. Now, though, he realizes that at some point, those feelings have shifted a little - and now he doesn’t just love Ted. He’s  _ in love _ with him. It’s like every holiday song about mistletoe and snow and cuddling by the fire - that’s exactly how Bill feels, standing there watching Ted laugh and wrinkle his nose as a snowflake lands right on the tip.

Bill would do anything to see Ted this happy, or keep him this happy as long as he can. He’d stand out here in the snow until he couldn’t feel his hands, he’d bring all the blankets outside and even find a way to bring the fire if he needed to. He walks over, closer to Ted, and nudges him with an elbow.

“Did you get any, dude?” Ted asks, finally looking down and pulling his tongue back in his mouth.

Smiling, Bill laughs a little and nods. “Yeah. I got plenty, dude. You wanna stay out here a little bit? Or you wanna go have breakfast and then come back and like - try to build snowmen and stuff?”

“Yeah, dude, I’m starving, let’s go make breakfast.”

Ted reaches out and grabs onto Bill’s jacket, tugging at his sleeve to pull him back towards the cabin. Bill stumbles along after him, happily.

They do breakfast basically the same way they did the day before, pancakes made huddled around the stove, warming their hands while they stand there. This time, though, they eat in the kitchen, too, over-excited and giddy, both of them ready to head back outside as soon as they’re done.

Back out in the snow, Bill picks up a handful of powder and tries packing it together to see if it’s going to stick - one of the only solid things he remembers about trying to make a snowman. When he manages to get a decently sized snowball in his hands, he grins a little and tosses it at Ted, happy to see it doesn’t just totally fall apart on impact.

“Dude!” Ted cries out, laughing as he shakes the snow off his jacket.

“First snow lesson, dude! Snowball fight!!” Bill yells back at him, and he has to duck as Ted just picks up a handful of snow and tosses it at him.

“This is totally unfair!” Ted tells him, but he says it through giggles, his tongue sticking out of his mouth at the corner as he tries to copy Bill’s motion and pack the snow in his hands. When he tries to throw his first attempt, though, it falls apart before it even reaches Bill. “Bogus,” he mutters, frowning.

Bill had paused his snowball making anyways to try and let Ted catch up - and now, with his open palms raised in a sign of truce, he walks back over, laughing. “Here, let me show you.”

He leans in close to let Ted watch how he does it, the way he shapes his hands around the snow and smushes it all together, and then even hands Ted the snowball, so he can get a free shot in.

“Here, go ahead, dude, you owe me one.”

Ted grins at him, and Bill closes his eyes to brace for impact - and Ted nails him right at the back of his neck, cold snow falling into the collar of his jacket, making him shiver.

“Ted!” he cries out, dodging away and laughing - but Ted just laughs, too, and Bill opens his eyes to find him trying again to make his own snowball, focused on it intently.

He quickly makes another and tosses it at Ted, just to throw him off, and Ted laughs as it hits him in the hip. “I’m gonna get you so good, dude,” Ted tells him.

Bill laughs and ducks down, trying to find cover - but doesn’t reach any before Ted’s finished, and this time the snowball hits him right in the face.

From there, it’s obvious that Ted’s caught on, and they both get into it, tossing snowballs back and forth until Ted’s totally pink in the face from exertion and cold. Bill takes his hat off, breathing heavily as he waves it over his head, falling down onto his back in the snow. “Truce, dude!” he calls out, and Ted nods as he comes over to lay down beside him.

“Truce,” he agrees - and then he flops down into the snow with a giggle.

Bill looks up at the sky, and takes a deep breath in, enjoying the sting of the cold air in his chest. There’s something oddly refreshing about it, since it never gets this cold in San Dimas, and Bill can only barely remember the last time he was this cold.

He turns his head to look at Ted, and thinks about reaching out for him, but then he catches sight of Ted’s closed eyes, and the snow on his eyelashes again, and he remembers something else they’re actually in probably the perfect position for right now.

“Snow angels,” he blurts out without really thinking about it.

“Huh?” Ted asks, turning his head to look at Bill.

“You - they’re another thing we can like, do in the snow it’s just - you gotta be laying down, but we already are. Then you just stick your arms out, and keep ‘em in the snow and use them to like - push some out of the way, and you do the same thing with your legs and it leaves like - a shape, when you get up.”

“Oh. Like an angel?”

Bill grins, and nods. “Yeah, dude. It’s cool.”

“They sound pretty but - I don’t wanna mess it up, dude. You go first so I can see how it works.”

“Okay.” Bill gets himself situated in the imprint he’s already left, then sticks out his arms and legs and starts pushing the snow around.

It feels a little silly with Ted watching him, but once he’s done he sits up and carefully hops out and walks away to look back and check on his work. It’s a little messy, but it’s passable. He nods at Ted then, and watches as Ted flops his arms and legs out with a laugh.

“Dude, the snow really is soft,” Ted says quietly as he pushes it around, and Bill ends up watching the quiet wonder on his face more than his actual attempts at a snow angel.

When Ted jumps up, Bill helps guide him away from the angels, tugging on his arm, and they both look back. Bill hadn’t realized they were so close, but between the short distance between them and Ted’s longer arm span, their angels have ended up overlapping.

“Did I - mess it up?” Ted asks quietly, looking over at Bill and then back at their shapes in the snow.

Bill shakes his head, and nudges his shoulder against Ted’s. “No way, dude. I think it looks kind of - nice. Don’t you?”

Ted tilts his head, considering. “I dunno if it really looks like an angel anymore but - it is still kind of pretty, I guess.”

Shivering a little, Bill stares at the place where the two wings overlap, half of his swallowed by Ted’s giant one, and feels oddly warm. Maybe they don’t really look like angels but - it still looks like them somehow, the familiar shapes in the snow. “I like it,” Bill insists, shuffling a little closer to Ted.

Finally, Ted smiles, and nods a little. “Me, too, Bill.”

Bill can feel where their arms are pressed together that Ted’s shivering, too, so he reaches down and wraps a hand around his wrist. “C’mon, dude, let’s go warm up a little before we try to make a snowman. That’s probably gonna take a while.”

“Okay,” Ted agrees easily, still smiling as the little pom pom on his hat wiggles and they both make their way back into the cabin.

For all its lack of heat, it feels a lot warmer inside the cabin than outside, and Bill shivers again as it hits him, the difference in temperature just from being out of the snow and wind. He goes over to the stove and turns it on, and starts setting things up to make his mom’s old hot cocoa recipe again.

“So you used to do all this stuff when you came here on vacation?” Ted asks, hovering right over Bill’s shoulder, probably for warmth as he watches him stir.

“Yeah,” Bill tells him with a nod. “My mom grew up back east like - upstate New York, you know. So she grew up with a bunch of snow and she always loved it when we came up here.” Slowly, Bill moves the old wooden spoon through the warm milk, watching the cocoa dissolve. “I didn’t really like - get it, when I was a kid, I just had fun playing with her, but. I think maybe I get it a little now.”

“So she taught you how to make snow angels and stuff?” Ted asks softly.

Bill nods. “Yeah they were like, her favorite. She kind of let dad do the other stuff, like snowmen and snowball fight stuff, but she always liked to lay down and make snow angels with me. And then she’d like - pick me up so I didn’t mess it up getting out.”

“That sounds nice,” Ted tells him. Then, hesitantly, he tilts his head forward to lean it on Bill’s shoulder.

Sighing, Bill nudges his head against Ted’s and then just rests there, their temples pressed together. “Thanks, dude.”

Ted just hums and leans there, pressed against Bill - and when Bill leans back slowly, Ted takes some of his weight.

Once the cocoa is done, they both go change out some of their wet clothes for drier ones, changing out sweaters and draping the damp ones over the edge of the bathtub. Then, with the cocoa cool enough to drink, they stand by the stove, warming their hands, huddling together.

“You still wanna go back out to build a snowman, dude?” Bill asks when Ted leans on his shoulder again. “Cause if you’re tired, we could always wait. It might snow some more anyways.”

Ted shakes his head where it’s still pressed against Bill. “No way, we should definitely try today. That way if it gets like - messed up we can make another one. Or like - I don’t know, mostly I just really wanna go back outside,” Ted admits, lifting his head up to smile.

Bill laughs, and reaches up to flick the pom pom at the top of Ted’s hat. “Okay, dude. Guess that means we better put all our snow stuff back on.”

Ted nods, pom pom bouncing, and they both get layered up again and head back out into the snow.

After careful consideration, Bill finds the perfect area beside the cabin, big and open and covered with a heavy blanket of snow. He carefully starts the first segment, building up a snowball, and then rolling it around to demonstrate it to Ted.

They work together, and in the end just the bottom part is so big that it’s a little bit funny. Bill lets Ted make the second part mostly on his own, and works on the head at the same time.

It takes them a while, and both of them are flushed with the cold and still sweating by the time the body is finished. They hunt together for wood to use for arms, and Bill runs back inside to grab the carrot he bought with their groceries specifically to use as a nose. They end up using pasta for the mouth, and extra guitar picks for eyes, and Ted decides to wrap his scarf around it for a finishing touch.

Once they’re done, they both smile at it, then turn to each other and air guitar with a laugh.

“We shoulda brought sunglasses, and then we could have made it look like Rufus,” Bill jokes, and Ted laughs, curling forward a little.

“Or like, a robe, then we coulda made Snow-Death,” Ted jokes, still giggling, and they elbow each other as they stumble back inside, cold and damp and giddy with the satisfaction of a job well-done.

As soon as they’re back in, they change into drier, warmer clothes again and stand around the stove while they make food. It’s just pasta, nothing fancy, but Bill lets Ted handle most of the cooking, instead just sleepily hovering at Ted’s elbow.

They eat back on the couch, tucked in their pile of blankets, but both of them are still shivering.

“One of us should probably get the stuff to start a fire,” Bill suggests - but he doesn’t move, his arm curled tight around Ted unwilling to let go.

“I can go,” Ted tells him, lifting his head up and blinking blearily. “I don’t mind - it’s just down in the basement, right?”

“Yeah there’s like - a woodpile there where it won’t get wet. Thanks, dude.”

“No problem, dude,” Ted says easily, but he takes a blanket when he stands up, and shudders as he stretches. Bill watches him pull the blanket tighter around his shoulders as he heads through the door, and then he starts moving all their other blankets and their setup over to the fireplace, where they’ll be warmer.

He settles himself on the floor, but he’s still colder without Ted pressed close against his side, and he shivers under the blanket, looking into the fireplace as he listens for the sound of Ted coming back up the stairs.

When he does hear Ted’s footsteps coming back, he just hums and snuggles further down in the blankets, waiting - but instead, Ted stops when he’s clearly still over by the basement.

“Ted - come on, dude, get the wood over here, it’s cold,” Bill calls out.

He turns to look, though, and realizes Ted is still hovering in the doorway, right under the mistletoe, hugging the bundle of firewood to his chest.

“I’m stuck, dude,” Ted tells him, frowning a little, his voice small.

At this point, now that it’s snowed and snowed enough they’re probably stuck up here until it melts a little, Bill isn’t really sure what bad luck they have to worry about. He isn’t going to say that, though, when Ted’s standing under mistletoe, asking to be kissed.

He hops up, leaving his blanket by the fireplace as he goes over to the doorway. “I got you, dude,” he tells Ted with a smile - and Ted gratefully smiles back.

As Bill approaches, Ted clutches the wood a little tighter and leans his head down, tilting his face towards Bill for another kiss on the cheek. Still thinking about his own realization from earlier in the snow, though, and looking at Ted’s little smile and gently closed eyes, Bill leans up and kisses Ted right at the corner of his lips - just a brush, really, and still more cheek than mouth, but enough to feel like he’s doing something a little daring.

When he pulls back, Bill watches as Ted’s eyes flutter open, and his flush deepens, and he suddenly glances down, right at Bill’s mouth.

Bill clears his throat. “I guess now you gotta get me, right?” He asks - and he closes his eyes, too, waiting, the same way Ted did.

“Yeah,” Ted says softly - only then there’s a soft press of lips against his own, just for a moment, before Ted pulls back again.

Opening his eyes, Bill finds Ted with his head ducked down, hiding behind his hair. Neither of them move to get the wood over to the fireplace - so they’re both just still standing there under the mistletoe, and Ted is looking at the ground, and Bill can’t stop looking at him - at the soft curve of his lips, at how pink and pretty they look in the cold.

“Maybe-“ Bill starts, and his voice cracks a little. “Maybe we should do one more. Like - just to be safe,” he says, trying his best to sound confident.

Ted finally shakes his hair out of his face and looks up, meeting his eyes. He blinks, quickly, and then nods. “Yeah, that’s - excellent idea, dude.”

He leans down close again, and closes his eyes - and this time Bill kisses him right on the mouth. He doesn’t mean to linger - he meant to return Ted’s little peck and pull away again, but Ted’s lips are so warm, and they part gently under the press of Bill’s mouth. Bill presses just a little closer, feels his nose press against Ted’s cheek, and Ted makes a quiet little sound into the kiss.

Bill pulls back, then, fully intending to apologize or at least ask Ted what’s wrong, but Ted ducks head closer, making another little noise as he blindly chases Bill’s mouth.

Feeling his stomach swoop at the sight, Bill tugs Ted in by his collar and kisses him again, another gentle press, soft and lingering. This time he touches just the tip of his tongue to Ted’s parted lips, and Ted’s mouth falls open easily - quickly turning their maybe still friendly kiss into one that’s desperate and just a little bit messy as Bill licks at Ted’s mouth, and presses inside.

By the time they part again, Bill’s breathing is heavy, and he looks at Ted’s expression, searching for even a hint of discomfort - and frowns when he notices Ted’s furrowed brow.

“What is it, dude?” Bill asks, placing a hand on his arm.

“It’s just - my arms are gettin’ kind of tired, dude,” Ted admits, holding the wood up a little as he opens his eyes and pouts.

“Oh, yeah,” Bill says, and he quickly picks up some of the firewood in Ted’s grip and helps him carry it over to the fireplace.

For a couple of minutes, they both get distracted, quietly getting the fire set up and lit. Bill shivers a little, realizing how cold he still is, and he leans close to press his shoulder against Ted’s, out of habit and instinct.

Once the fire’s burning bright, Bill sits back on the ground in front of it and turns to search out his blanket - and Ted stays crouched right in front of the fireplace, sort of hovering there.

“Ted?” Bill says, leaning up a little, confused as to why Ted’s not joining him.

Ted ducks his head and looks over at the fire. “Do I gotta be like - under the mistletoe for you to kiss me again?” he asks quietly.

Bill flushes, but shakes his head and reaches out to tug at the hem of Ted’s sweater. “No way, dude, get over here.”

When Ted turns, he moves so fast his hair gets in his face again, and he shakes it out of the way as he crawls over and settles in next to Bill, pressed close on their blanket. Bill throws the other corner of the one on his shoulders over Ted, then puts an arm around him to pull him close.

“You warm enough?” Bill asks quietly, ducking his face in close enough his forehead nudges against Ted’s.

“Yeah. I’m good.” Ted smiles at him - and Bill leans in close to kiss him again, unable to resist.

At first, they go back to trading short, sweet kisses. It seems like both of them are nervous again, now that they’re sitting down and they don’t have the excuse of the mistletoe hanging over their heads. Bill keeps pulling back just to check that Ted’s still okay, and hasn’t changed his mind, and every time he does, Ted laughs quietly, and wiggles his shoulders or shakes his head, like he’s trying to get out all the extra energy again.

As he opens his eyes again and finds Ted wiggling his shoulders with his nose all scrunched up, Bill can’t help but finally reach out and place a hand on Ted’s jaw to pull him into another real, lingering kiss.

He can feel the way Ted’s eyelashes flutter, just brushing against his cheek, and he wraps his arm tighter around Ted’s shoulders to hold him close. Ted hums into the kiss, a little sigh of a sound, and Bill chases it with his tongue, licking into Ted’s mouth. He still tastes like hot cocoa, under everything else, it makes Bill laugh against him.

Ted’s hands edge under the blankets, sliding around Bill’s waist, up over his back. Bill feels them, big and warm even through his sweater, and he pulls back just enough to sigh.

When he moves back in, he shifts his own hands to press against Ted’s waist, and then edges them up under Ted’s sweater to seek out skin. As soon as he does, though, Ted pulls back to shiver a little, and laugh.

“Dude, your hands are cold,” Ted tells him.

“Sorry,” Bill says. He starts to pull them back, though, and Ted just places his hands over Bill’s, keeping them where they are.

Ted shakes his head. “It’s fine, dude. They’ll warm up.”

So they stay there, curled up together and kissing, Bill petting his hands over Ted’s skin, until the fire burns down enough that both of them can feel it.

When Bill pulls back, his lips feel damp and raw, and he licks over them, blinking as he looks over Ted’s equally swollen mouth, his flushed cheeks and dark eyes, sparkling in what’s left of the light from the fire. “Guess we should - get some more wood.”

That makes Ted laugh a little, and Bill laughs, too, though he pinches Ted’s side.

“Dude,” he says.

“Sorry,” Ted says, but he doesn’t sound very sorry at all. Instead, he leans forward again and presses his forehead against Bill’s, then rubs their noses together. “I mean, we could do that or we could just - set up the blanket fort again or - maybe go get in the bed, or something. If we didn’t wanna keep the fire going.”

“You wanna go get in the bed?” Bill asks quietly.

“I just mean - like it’s probably warm,” Ted says, flushing a little deeper.

“I don’t mind,” Bill tells him. “Plus I am actually - kind of tired, still, from being out in the snow so much.”

“Let’s just go to bed, then.”

Bill nods, and finds himself yawning and stretching as he goes to stand up. It’s cold, away from Ted and the fire, but he’s also even sleepier than he realized.

“C’mon,” Ted says gently, and he places his hands on Bill’s waist to help steer him towards the bedroom.

They both change clumsily into their pajamas, and then they slide into the bed, finding their way to each other in the center, immediately pressing close, Bill’s face pressed into Ted’s chest, arms wrapped tight around his waist. Ted holds Bill just as tight, shivering as they wait for the sheets and mattress to warm up.

Even though Bill means to check on Ted, at least ask if he had fun, instead he falls asleep before he can manage more than a sleepy incoherent mumble, so warm and comfortable wrapped up in Ted’s arms.

When he wakes up again, light is streaming in through the bedroom window, and one of his arms is asleep where it’s still tucked underneath Ted’s waist. Their legs are all tangled together, and Ted is still asleep in front of him, hair all in his face, collar of his sweater all pulled to one side.

Bill eases his arm out from underneath Ted, and as he turns onto his back, shaking out his arm, he leaves one of his legs hooked over Ted’s. This time they managed not to kick off the blankets in their sleep, so it’s nice and warm still where they’ve slept tangled up in each other. Bill knows if he gets up, he’ll let the cold air in, and he doesn’t want that any more than Ted probably does. Instead, he squeezes his eyes shut and rolls over on his stomach, grunting as he presses his face into the pillows.

That’s when his hips meet the bed, and he realizes he’s half-hard.

It makes sense. He hasn’t jerked off since they got here, too conscious of Ted just in the other room the one time he took a shower, and otherwise too busy and too cold and too tired. Now, though, he can feel the bare skin of Ted’s leg against his where their pajama pants have ridden up a little. He reaches over, blindly, and his knuckles bump against the bare skin of Ted’s hip, and he makes a quiet noise he tries to muffle into the pillow as his own hips push forward against the mattress.

Soon, Ted is shifting, his hand flailing out until it lands on Bill’s back, rubbing up and down as he groans and stretches, waking up.

Resisting the urge to whimper, Bill just goes still and turns his face towards Ted, opening one eye to watch him move, but hoping that Ted won’t notice how flushed he is.

Unfortunately, Ted frowns at him and hums a little, moving his hand to Bill’s lower back, pushing it up under the hem of his sleep shirt to rest on bare skin. “You good, dude?”

“Yeah, I’m - hm,” Bill says, turning his face back into the pillows, cutting himself off.

“Oh,” Ted says - and his voice is low, suddenly, still sleep rough, and when Bill’s hips push forward again, Ted’s hand spasms against his back, pressing harder before changing to a gentle brush. “ _ Oh _ ,” he says again.

He shifts closer, and Bill turns slowly to face him, breathing heavily as Ted’s hand comes to rest on his hip, and he can feel his cock twitch in his sleep pants.

“You want me to - help?” Ted asks, his fingers edging under the waistband of Bill’s pajamas.

“If you want to, dude,” Bill says, and Ted nods quickly.

“Yeah, here, let me just-” Ted pulls Bill closer, and moves his hand around to Bill’s stomach, fingers tracing the line of his hip down towards his cock.

“Dude, are you-” Bill asks, panting the words out, but Ted cuts him off with a kiss, nudging their mouths together as he finally wraps his hand around Bill’s cock.

Bill groans into his mouth, pushing forward into his grip, but he reaches out, pressing his hand against Ted’s hip, sliding it down and inwards until he can press against the front of Ted’s pajamas. He can feel the shape of Ted’s cock, feel the way it twitches under his palm - and best of all, he can feel the damp spot on Ted’s pajamas, where he’s so hard he’s already leaking.

Ted pulls back, moaning loudly as he tightens his hand on Bill’s cock and starts to move. His pace is stuttered, though, his movements awkward as he struggles to find a rhythm and Bill keeps distracting him, shaping his hand around Ted through his pajamas, rubbing his thumb over the head of Ted’s cock through the fabric.

“Bill, I’m,” Ted chokes out, and then he whines a little, pressing his hips up against Bill’s palm, grinding against him even as he tries to keep tugging at Bill’s cock.

“Just - just let me, dude, keep your hand there and I’ll just-” but he traces his thumb up Ted’s cock again, and Ted’s grip tightens, and Bill thrusts his hips forward with a grunt, making his point without words.

He fucks into Ted’s grip almost like it’s his own - but Ted’s hand is so much bigger, and he’s using his left, so Bill can feel the rough press of his calluses. The extra hint of friction and the constant reminder of the unfamiliarity has Bill quickly losing his own pace and biting his lip, trying desperately not to come too fast. He can already feel the tug in his stomach, though, the tightening in his hips, and he knows that he’s close.

For a moment, he stops moving his hips, and instead he shifts his focus to pulling the waistband of Ted’s pajama pants down, freeing his cock.

Bill wraps his hand around Ted, hand on his bare skin, and Ted lets out an incoherent whine, turning his face towards the pillows, his eyes squeezed shut. His face is so flushed, his hair an absolute mess where it’s all rucked up from the way he’s been squirming around. Bill has to lean forward and kiss him, first on the mouth, a quick damp press of lips, then he brushes his lips over Ted’s cheek, down to his jaw and his neck.

“C’mere, dude, I wanna feel you,” Bill tells him, and then he slides his hand around, pressing it against Ted’s lower back, then shifting it down to his ass, squeezing gently before he pulls Ted’s leg over his, making it so they can press their hips together - and then Bill can feel Ted’s cock, hard against his own, both of them pressed their between their stomachs in the humid air under the blankets.

Ted’s making little noises every time he exhales now, and when Bill grabs his ass again, urging him into a roll of their hips, their cocks shifting against each other, he moans out loud.

The way his head is thrown back makes it easy for Bill to press his face in close, kissing down Ted’s neck. Soon, he finds that there’s a place right above Ted’s collarbone that makes him twitch and whine, and he settles there, sucking and biting at the skin as he keeps thrusting against Ted’s stomach.

The noises Ted’s making shift a little, growing shorter, starting to get caught in his throat as he whines and clutches at Bill’s back. Bill has to press his face closer against Ted’s neck, right where it meets his shoulder, muffing his own noises against Ted’s skin as he tenses up and finally comes, rubbing right into the line of Ted’s hip with each twitch of his cock.

Ted whines out loud as Bill’s cum hits his skin, and he grabs at Bill’s shoulders and the back of his neck, clutching so hard that Bill can feel the blunt press of his nails digging into his skin. When Ted finally does come, it’s with a gasp and a little laugh, his mouth pressed to Bill’s temple, his cock twitching against Bill’s stomach, his cum warm on Bill’s skin, mixed with Bill’s own.

They’re both a mess, but Bill doesn’t care, sliding up Ted’s body to press their mouths together, wrapping his leg around Ted’s hip to hold him close. He kind of likes the way their bare stomachs press together and stick, the way their softening cocks nudge against each other.

He pulls back from the kiss, panting, and knocks his forehead against Ted’s. “You good, dude?”

Ted smiles, and laughs again, nodding. “Yeah, Bill. Really good.”

Bill hums and shifts his face, tracing his nose along the line of Ted’s jaw, then shifting to press his cheek against Ted’s. For the first time, then, he realizes that since neither of them shaved yesterday or this morning, he can feel the rasp of Ted’s stubble against his own, and he rubs their cheeks together just to feel it, chuckling a little.

Laughing, Ted turns his head to catch Bill’s lips again, and this time they’re both smiling so much it’s hard to keep kissing, but neither of them seem to care.

As he pulls back, Bill pushes his hand through Ted’s hair, pushing it off his face, and settles back on the pillows so they can look at each other properly. His eyes move over Ted’s face and neck, from all the places red from friction and bruised from Bill’s lips, to his flush and his eyes, still dark with want. Bill has to reach out again, placing a hand on Ted’s hip, thumb shifting over his skin.

“I kind of wanna - I know we gotta drive home tomorrow, for work on Tuesday, so I know we don’t have a lot of time but - I kind of wanna say we should just stay in bed all day,” Bill says, sliding his hand further up under Ted’s shirt, rubbing over his back. “It’s warm in here.”

“Stay in bed all day, like-” Ted starts, and flushes.

“You know, like.  _ Stay in bed all day _ ,” Bill tells him, sliding his hand down to Ted’s butt, squeezing hard enough that Ted lets out a surprised little sound and jumps a little.

“Well that’s-” Ted starts - but suddenly, his brow furrows, and he looks oddly troubled.

Carefully, Bill slides his hand back up to Ted’s waist, holding him gently, and uses his other hand to rub his thumb over the little furrow between Ted’s brows. “What is it, dude?”

“I mean I wanna, I just - um. Is it - are we not gonna do it anymore when we get home?” In spite of all his touching, Ted won’t meet his gaze.

“What do you mean?” Bill asks, genuinely confused.

Huffing a breath out through his nose, Ted tries to hide behind his hair. “Like is it - do you wanna stop? When we’re home? Is that why?”

Bill shakes his head, rubbing his thumb over Ted’s cheek. “Dude I don’t - why would I wanna stop? I - I brought you up here cause I wanted it to be special, Ted. Not - I mean, I didn’t know what would happen, I just - I knew how I felt, and I wanted to do something special for you. Of course we can still do it when we’re home, unless - unless you don’t want to.”

“No way, I - dude, of course I don’t wanna stop, this is just-” Ted looks up and scoots closer again. “Bill you made it so special, I promise. I was just - worried, I guess, that things were so different up here...” he trails off.

Shaking his head even harder, Bill presses their foreheads together to cut Ted off. “Ted, I love you, dude. I wanna kiss you all the time at home. I wanna do - all of this stuff. I was just nervous, before you kissed me under the mistletoe. And now I just - I kind of wanna take advantage of the really excellent bed, dude. At home we’re gonna have to like, push ours together or something.”

That makes Ted giggle, and his expression finally clears up as he leans close and kisses Bill, arms wrapping around his shoulders again. “I love you, too. Even if we do gotta push our beds together. Or - even if we have to try and be quiet at home with all our neighbors and stuff.”

Grinning, Bill bites at Ted’s collarbone again, just to hear him whine. “Here you can be as loud as you want, dude.”

Ted pushes a hand into Bill’s curls, keeping him close. “Yeah - dude, let’s - let’s stay in bed. At least until we gotta eat. I guess - I mean we should probably get a shower-”

“It’s gonna be cold out there, though,” Bill reminds him. “And cold while we wait for the water.”

“Yeah, but - we’re gonna get all sticky, dude,” Ted says quietly, giggling.

“It’s - kind of hot, though, isn’t it? Or like - I guess we could wipe it off on the sheets, we gotta wash ‘em before we leave anyways.”

Bill moves to wipe his hand over his stomach, but Ted catches him by the wrist and shakes his head. “No wait, I - got an idea.”

With that, Ted wiggles down the bed, ducking under the blankets, and Bill almost asks what he’s doing before he feels Ted’s mouth, warm and damp, pressed against his stomach.

“ _ Ted _ ,” he pants out - and his spent cock twitches a little against his thigh.

Ted just hums against his skin, and sucks at the area just under Bill’s navel, scraping his teeth there, cleaning up their mingled cum with his mouth. Bill reaches a hand down and pushes his fingers into Ted’s hair, tugging gently to pull him back up as Ted’s lips wander over to his hip bones, and he bites there, scraping with his teeth again, enough to make Bill twitch.

As Ted pops back up out of the blankets, his mouth hangs open as he pants - and Bill can see their mingled cum, still thick and white on his tongue. Feeling strangely desperate, he grabs Ted’s neck and pulls him in, kissing him open mouthed and licking inside just to taste.

The kiss is salty and messy - and Bill can feel the way some of their cum ends up on their lips instead of fully in either of their mouths - but he just pulls away and licks over Ted’s mouth to help clean him up. He uses his hand to reach down, then, and wipe most of the cum up from Ted’s hip - and then he ducks under the covers, chasing his own hand with his tongue, making sure to lick every trace of himself from Ted’s skin. He can hear Ted whining above him, and he lingers there, trailing his tongue up and down over the line of Ted’s hip.

He can feel himself twitching again, getting closer and closer to actually being ready to go for round two. Just as he thinks that, Ted grabs his wrist and pulls his hand up, licking at his palm and sucking Bill’s fingers into his mouth, cleaning him off again and moaning against Bill’s skin.

Slowly, Bill kisses his way back up Ted’s body, until finally he sticks his head back out from under the blankets. He feels like his hair is a mess, curls in all the wrong directions, face flushed, cum still lingering at the corner of his mouth - but Ted catches sight of him and groans, pulling him into another kiss.

They’re still sticky now, sweating under the blankets and damp with each other’s spit, but Bill feels now like he can pull Ted close against him without making it worse - and he doesn’t feel the need to wipe either of them off with the blanket.

“What else do you wanna do?” Ted asks, pressing the words to Bill’s cheek. “I could - try to suck you off, maybe? We don’t - we don’t have any lube, do we?”

Bill shakes his head. “No I didn’t - think we’d get that far. I didn’t bring anything. We’ll have to wait til we’re home.”

Sliding his hands further up Bill’s back, Ted rucks his shirt up so high it’s bunched up under his arms. “So we gotta do other stuff, then. Probably just - mouth stuff.”

“Yeah, probably,” Bill agrees. He pulls Ted closer again, kissing him hard, just needing him closer. It’s unbelievably hot just to listen to Ted talk about it all like that - so casually, so into anything they might be able to do together once they’re home again. He pulls back and drags his mouth along Ted’s jaw, nuzzling against the roughness of his stubble. “Have you - thought about this stuff before?”

“Like - stuff with us?” Ted asks quietly, still rubbing his hands restlessly over Bill’s back.

“Yeah, dude, like - when you get off at home.”

“It’s - pretty much all I think about, dude,” Ted admits, wrapping his hands around Bill’s waist, pressing them against his ribs. “Has been for a while, whenever I’m like - in the shower, or you’re not home.”

Groaning, Bill shifts to kiss Ted again, biting at his lower lip. “Me too, dude. You’re just so-” He cuts himself off, kissing Ted again, then kissing over his cheek, and down to his neck.

“So what?” Ted pants out.

“So hot, Ted,” Bill finishes, biting at Ted’s collar bone and squeezing at Ted’s hips. “Your hands, and your mouth and just - all of you, dude, there’s so much stuff I wanna do and I can’t wait til we get home and we don’t just have to be under the blankets. And I - just staying in bed with you all day, I just wanna see - I wanna see how many times I can get you off, I wanna listen to you come, I wanna taste it, you just - god, Ted,” Bill knows he’s talking too much, but it’s like he can’t stop himself from getting it all out once he’s started. He’s got one of his legs wrapped around Ted’s again, starting to push their hips together as both of them start to get turned on again, grabbing at each other instead of petting, Ted moaning into every kiss.

“Bill,” Ted moans out. “Bill, dude, you’re so - I want all of that stuff, I want all of it, just - want you to touch me, Bill-” His voice edges out into a whine as Bill grabs his ass again.

Getting an idea, Bill pushes Ted over onto his back, and slides down under the covers again, eyes adjusting to the darkness in the warm, humid space. “Get under here, dude,” Bill mutters against Ted’s chest, kissing his way down.

Ted ducks his head under the blankets, too, and then they’re there together, in the warm space, barely lit by the sunlight that still leaks in through the comforter. Carefully, Ted holds the blankets up so he can see a little, and holds them off Bill, too, in the process. As a thank you, Bill moves one hand roughly up Ted’s chest and squeezes at one of his tits, licking over his nipple on the other side. With his head leaned up, eyes still locked on Bill, Ted moans, and Bill can feel the way his hips shift further down.

“You’re so sensitive, dude,” Bill says softly, and he pushes both of his hands up over Ted’s chest, rubbing at both of his nipples. He scoots down further, then, and kisses over Ted’s stomach, over his scar, and his happy trail, and down towards his cock, which is twitching as it starts to fill out again.

He traces his thumbs along the lines of Ted’s hips, and kisses over the skin of his thighs, and presses his teeth into the muscle there. So close, even in the dark, he can see the shape of Ted’s cock - at least, better than he’s ever been able to in the little glimpses he gets when they’re changing clothes.

Ted is thick - and long, too, compared to the size of Bill’s hand as Bill moves to touch him. He hears Ted whimper and changes tactics again, placing his hands against Ted’s thighs to push them apart a little, pressing his face there instead while Ted’s still sensitive.

He keeps touching and licking, leaving little marks all over Ted’s hips and thighs until Ted’s hard enough the head of his cock is peeking out from his foreskin. He wraps his hand around the base, then, and looks up at Ted’s face, catching sight of him all flushed, his brow furrowed, his mouth hanging open as he pants.

“You good, dude?” Bill asks, pressing another soft kiss to Ted’s hipbone.

“Yeah just - it feels good. Just a lot,” Ted tells him, his eyes fluttering open, one of his hands moving to cradle the back of Bill’s head.

“I’ll be gentle,” Bill tells him, and he leans in, licking over the head of Ted’s cock.

If he thought Ted was loud earlier, it’s nothing compared to this. With each press of Bill’s mouth against his cock, Ted pants and moans, his legs shifting, his toes curling where one foot has ended up pressed against Bill’s calf. When Bill actually wraps his lips around Ted and starts to slide down, sucking gently, Ted whines so loud Bill almost wonders if he’s going to come already.

He keeps going though, rubbing his tongue over the head of Ted’s cock, then sliding back down, and Ted’s hand clutches at his hair, pulling a little, just enough to make Bill moan, too. That, finally, does it - and then Ted is coming, and Bill catches almost all of it in his mouth, swallowing a little out of instinct but still ending up with most of it on his tongue. He has an urge to lick it all over Ted’s stomach and then clean him up again, but instead he moves up, and Ted pulls him into a kiss.

Bill starts to pull back, all too aware that even after earlier, this might be a little much, but Ted just moans into the kiss and grabs at the back of Bill’s neck to keep him close. When he pushes his tongue into Ted’s mouth, he can feel the way Ted sucks at his tongue and swallows easily, and they both shiver a little.

By now, between having Ted’s cock in his mouth and listening to him and from that kiss, Bill is fully hard and leaking again, pressing against Ted’s hip.

“Dude, do you still wanna-” Bill starts to ask, and Ted pulls back to nod.

“Yeah, lay back, dude. I wanna.” They switch positions, Bill laying back against the pillows and Ted hovering over top of him, kissing him one more time before he quickly moves down Bill’s body, not bothering to tease before he settles between Bill’s thighs and wraps one hand around Bill’s hip to keep him steady.

When he licks over Bill’s cock for the first time, Bill tries to buck into the touch, already close, but Ted’s hand keeps him pressed firmly into the bed - which just makes him whine out loud, head thrown back against the pillows, his legs pressing open further to give Ted more room.

After bobbing his head a few times, Ted pulls off, trying to figure out a rhythm, clearly, but Bill can’t help but pant a little, feeling right on the edge. “Please, dude,” he grits out.

Ted pets over his thigh with one hand and kisses right at the crease of his groin. “I got you, dude, don’t worry.”

As soon as he closes his lips around the head of Bill’s cock again, though, he sucks, and Bill’s coming, all wound up and still sensitive, easy under Ted’s hands and his lips. He moans, and presses his hands into Ted’s hair, and feels the rush of his orgasm as it pushes through his body. He feels spent and dizzy afterwards as Ted kisses his way up to Bill's neck and face, finally pulling the covers off of both of their heads as they breathe deeply in the cool bedroom air.

They kiss, breathing heavily into each other’s mouths, deep and open-mouthed until they both start to really come down, then easing back into sweet presses of lips.

Bill wraps his arms around Ted’s shoulders and pulls him closer, encouraging Ted to lay against his chest, one long arm around Bill’s waist.

“We probably gotta get up for food soon,” Bill says, pushing his fingers through Ted’s hair, getting it all off his forehead and out of his face.

Ted giggles and nuzzles against Bill’s chest. “Especially if we’re gonna keep this up.”

Laughing, Bill tugs Ted up and kisses him again. “I dunno how many more times I can do all that,” he admits.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Ted answers him with a grin that’s just a little bit suggestive - and it looks so good on him that Bill can’t help but pull him close and kiss him some more, hands moving over Ted’s skin, touching as much as he can.

For a dude who’s already gotten off twice in one morning, he’s still feeling surprisingly desperate to keep Ted close and keep touching him.

Eventually, they manage to wrap up in their blankets and pull their pajamas back in place enough that they don’t freeze when they pad into the kitchen and turn on the stove. They make breakfast, and some more hot cocoa, and they stand up to eat again, not wanting to separate enough to sit down.

As soon as they’re both finished, they toss the plates in the sink and rush back to the bedroom, settling back under the covers and curling up together, legs tangled and hands seeking bare skin under their sweaters.

In spite of how red and tender his lips are, Bill kisses Ted again, still desperate to be close to him. They make out for a while, but this time slower, gentle and lingering as they hold each other close. 

Bill hums into their kiss and rubs his nose against Ted’s before pulling back to kiss him on the cheek. “We should do this when we get home, too. Some time we get a weekend off of work together. Just push the beds together and stay in there all day.”

Ted laughs. “Maybe we can do it for Christmas. Like our present to each other.”

Chuckling, Bill kisses him again and then hugs him, snuggling in tight. “Sounds nice, dude.”

After a little while, they actually both doze off - or at least Bill does, and he spends a little while napping. When he wakes up again, he finds Ted watching him, his eyes sparking in the light coming in from the window. Bill flushes a little, and rubs at his face, but Ted just grabs his hand and kisses his palm, pulling him close again.

“I know I already said you made it special, dude, but - I still can’t believe you did all this,” Ted tells him, muttering the words softly into Bill’s ear.

“I didn’t really do that much, Ted. I just - drove us up here. Made some cocoa and stuff.”

“Yeah, but it was your idea, and - you shared all this stuff with me, dude. Showed me how to play in the snow and stuff, made the fire when you could tell I was cold and made sure I had the right clothes and - kept me in bed all day. You took care of me and stuff. I’m just - I feel really lucky, you know?”

Bill pushes up onto his hands, looking down at Ted where his face is all flushed. “Dude, you - you deserve to have somebody do all of that stuff. I’m happy to do it. And anyways, you - you made dinner, and you kissed me under the mistletoe, and you cheered me up whenever I started to get bummed out. I love you. I’d do way more than all of this to see you happy, Ted.”

“Bill,” Ted says, all soft and overwhelmed, and they fall into another kiss, both of them giddy and grinning so hard their teeth click a little when they won’t pull apart.

Their kissing and petting gets both of them hard again, and this time they spit into each other’s palms and jerk off together, cocks nudging and knuckles bumping in the scant space under the covers. They try to clean each other off again, but they both missed a little this time, and they scoot away from the wet spot on the sheets, giggling.

By the time it’s dark out, they get out of bed again for dinner, and they both finally agree to settle in front of the fireplace and make a fire again.

When Bill gets the wood out of the basement, Ted meets him at the door, and they exchange kisses under the mistletoe again, smiling against each other’s lips.

The long day of doing absolutely nothing except kissing and getting each other off, though, seems to leave them both drowsy and warm and comfortable, and before the fire’s even all the way burned out, they decide to put it out and go back to bed.

With Ted curled up in his arms again, Bill kisses at his shoulder and mumbles, “Did you wanna do anything before we leave tomorrow?”

“Yeah, actually,” Ted says softly, wrapping his arm around Bill’s, over his waist. “We should get up tomorrow and go back out in the snow. I had an idea.”

“Okay,” Bill mumbles - and he kisses Ted’s shoulder again, mouth pressed to the fabric of his sweater as he falls asleep.

They have a lot to do the next day - cleaning up after themselves, making sure the driveway is cleaned off enough to drive back down, all of that - but instead, after they’ve eaten breakfast, they stumble out into the snow together and Ted tugs Bill by the hand over to their snowman, still standing tall.

“I think we gotta make another one,” Ted tells him, squeezing at his hand.

Bill blinks at their snowman, and then over at Ted, who’s already pink in the cold, all bundled up in his hat and Bill’s scarf. “You think he’s lonely?”

Ted smiles a little and shrugs. “Maybe. I just don’t wanna leave him up here like this, you know?”

So a little more slowly than they did before, they build a second snowman, Ted insisting that this one be a little smaller than the one they already made. They scoot him into position, so the two of them are standing next to each other, Ted gives him arms, and a face made mostly out of little stones and with some guitar picks borrowed from their first one, and then he steals Bill’s hat and sticks it on top of his head. He pulls his own hat off, too, and places it on the taller one, and then gestures at them with his open arms.

“They’re us, dude!” he says happily, turning to grin at Bill.

Bill looks up at the snowmen, and the way that Ted has made their little stick arms overlap, and the way their hats sit crooked on their snowy heads, and laughs. He reaches out and grabs Ted’s hand, and then he pulls him in close, and they kiss right there in the snow, just the way he wanted to all day Saturday.

“They’re perfect, dude,” Bill tells him, smiling.

“Yeah, well, we probably gotta take our hats back cause - I like mine, but - they can still be us without the hats.”

“Totally,” Bill agrees, wrapping his arm tight around Ted’s waist. He reaches up, and grabs his own hat, and sticks it back on his head and then has to shake the snow off of it.

“Maybe we could like-” Ted starts, turning to Bill, but then he seems to get embarrassed, ducking behind his hair. “Do you think we could come back next year?”

“Like for like - our anniversary?”

Ted peeks through his hair and smiles, biting his lip. “Yeah. You think so?”

“Yeah, dude. Of course we’ll come back next year, if you want to.” Bill wraps both of his arms around Ted’s waist and leans up to kiss him. “We’ll come back every year.”

Ted presses his smile against Bill’s, and Bill can feel Ted’s nose cold against his cheek, Ted’s damp hair in his face - but he doesn’t mind.  “I can’t wait, dude,” Ted tells him, practically shining with happiness when he pulls back enough to look down at Bill.

There’s snow all in Ted’s hair again - in his eyelashes, bright white against his dark eyes and dark lashes, and even against his tan skin. Bill cradles Ted’s face in his still-gloved hands and pulls him down into another long, slow kiss. “Me neither, dude. It’s gonna be a truly resplendent tradition.”

And it’s true - Bill can picture, then, their future together, and coming back here every year. And as much as he’s excited to go home, too, to go back to their every day and see all the new parts of it they can share now that they’re together - he’s excited, too, that every year they’ll have this to look forward to. He really can’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> okay WELL. i hope everyone enjoyed, i hope it was sufficiently gooey and tropey, i had. so much fun writing this it filled me with joy. i'm working on a couple more jolly fics, one of which will be. a little longer and more involved than this so. it'll hopefully be done by the end of the month. in the mean time, i hope you enjoyed this one! thank you as always for reading, feel feel to tell me here or on twitter @eddykaspbraks or on discord or wherever!


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